PULLMAN, Wash.—Two Washington State University faculty members were honored at the fourth annual University College awards ceremony Tuesday, April 19 for their contributions to the Common Reading Program.

Karen Weathermon, director of Learning Communities and co-director of the Common Reading Program, says “We want to recognize those who went above-and-beyond to make WSU’s annual Common Reading Program a huge success,” she says.

David Pietz, associate professor in history and director of the Asia Program, and Cherri Wemlinger, teaching assistant in history and Asian Studies, were honored for their hard work and determination with the Common Reading Excellence Award. They created and piloted a one-credit Freshman Focus course that implemented the Common Reading book and Common Reading Tuesday’s expert lecture series as the center of its curriculum.

The course required students to attend a minimum of seven Common Reading events and in small groups extend that experience by creating final projects that explored an issue of interest on Afghanistan.

“This is the first time that the Common Reading has been used as the basis of a course, rather than a complementary element of an existing course,” Weathermon comments. “Their work gave us a foundation that we can build upon in future years.”

The book chosen for the 2010-11 academic year Common Reading book for over 3,000 freshmen was “Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” by Greg Mortenson.

The Common Reading Program, a part of the University College at WSU, strives to create a common academic ground and dialogue for all participants—new students, faculty, staff, and the community around them.